"So, when do we go on this little magical mystery tour?"

[llywela]

This has been a busy week, what with one thing and another. It isn't going to get any less busy, either. Tomorrow I have to get up at the crack of dawn in order to get into town to catch the megabus to London at 7.30am. I'm going to see the Terracotta Army at the British Museum with my family. It was originally going to be just me and Mum - we always try to have a day out together every year, just the two of us. We usually take in a flower show - it was Hampton Court Palace last year - but this year we decided on the Terracotta Army, while the exhibition is on this side of the globe. But then the rest of the family jumped on the bandwagon, so suddenly our mother-daughter outing has become a day for the entire family! It's going to be a long day. To catch the bus at 7.30, I'll have to leave by 6.50am. We probably won't get back into Cardiff until gone 11pm. But it should be a really great day.

Must remember to set up the DV-R for Ashes to Ashes.

Luckily I've taken the day off on Friday, as well. I've got a man coming to scrap my car - that old bomb my sister gave me two years ago that turned out to be about three times the size of the one I was learning to drive in and scared me too much to attempt to move ever. It's just been sitting there gathering rust ever since, so now I'm getting rid of it.

Man, the recap for this week's Supernatural really hated me. It did not want to be written, at all. I suspect my general business with work and job hunting and family commitments and whatnot had something to do with this. Plus stress, of course. It still managed to hit 30 pages, though! I'm not entirely happy with it - it could do with some polishing, still, but I don't have time before the next episode. I just couldn't seem to express myself properly this week. So I hope what I've written makes sense!

To read the recap, click the link below:


"No one can save you because you don't want to be saved."

The episode header was made using caps by marishna. There aren't any illustrative graphics again this week - I just don't have time to sit and make them at the moment. Maybe some other time I'll come back and edit them in.

Comments

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

It isn't even John's not showing up that bugs me, because he could have genuinely been tied up somehow or in danger himself. It's the fact that he never called back later I cannot forgive. I keep seeing fic and meta writers trying to make excuses for him, like having him be the person who covertly got the information about the faith healer to Sam - impossible, since Sam waited until he'd found the faith healer before he even tried to tell John about Dean's condition. Or by having him hurrying to watch over his sons but not letting them know he's there, stuff like that, which I find of no comfort at all because it just makes him look like more of a jerk - comforting himself but leaving them to suffer alone. Bottom line is that no matter what he was doing at the time, he should have got in touch at the first possible opportunity, even if by then he'd already had a second message to say that Dean was okay again. There's no excuse for just ignoring the situation, and it's hardly surprising that it would add to all those other times of neglect to convince Dean that his father really didn't care about him except inasmuch as he was useful to him. :(

[littlepunkryo.livejournal.com]

I love John. I can forgive a lot. But the thing is, those explanations don't put him into a good light. At all. He shows up when he needs the boys' help, but if THEY need HIM? More often than not, finding the Demon was just more important. And that's a flaw people need to learn to live with, because it's an integral part of John's character.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I love John. I can forgive a lot.
Ditto. Or...I can understand a lot, if not forgive. In much the same way that throughout season one we see Dean understanding and making allowances whenever his dad did something hurtful, like phone for the first time in months only to start barking cryptic clues rather than saying anything like 'good to hear your voice, son, sorry about taking off like that, hope you're keeping okay, something's come up that I can't handle - can you take care of it for me?' The way John handled passing on that case in Scarecrow bugs me because it's so unnecessary. There's no reason for him not to have an actual conversation with his son, however brief, but instead he chooses the path of a commanding officer setting a challenge for a subordinate, rather than a father - or even a colleague who respects his working partner enough to communicate properly with him!

And that's a flaw people need to learn to live with, because it's an integral part of John's character.
EXACTLY! John was a good man, but he was deeply flawed, and the show has consistenyl portrayed him in this way for a reason. There's just no sense in trying to deny it, better to understand him for who he was and move on.

[littlepunkryo.livejournal.com]

I think part of John's problem was when the boys were little he treated them, or at least Dean, more like soldiers than sons, and now that they're grown up, he just finds it easier to still treat them as soldiers. I'm not sure he ever really learned to treat them as ONLY sons, not just soldiers too.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

John started to take Dean for granted very early on - I think the show has made that clear. And because Dean when he was very young became so accustomed to understanding why his dad behaved the way he did and to making excuses for him, he completely missed out on the fact that he deserved and was entitled to a hell of a lot better.

Just a really messed up family, in fact.